Masato Kawabata

Masato Kawabata
Masato Kawabata
Nationality	Japan
Born	15 October 1977 (age 47); Osaka, Osaka Prefecture
D1 Grand Prix career
Debut season	2002
Current team	Team TOYO TIRES DRIFT
Former teams	TRUST
Wins	17
Previous series
2017-2019; ; 2019,2021	FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup; Russian Drift Series
Championship titles
2007 2013 2015; 2017	D1GP Series Champion; ; FIA Intercontinental Drifting Cup

Masato Kawabata (川畑真人, Kawabata Masato, 15 October 1977, in Osaka) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for Team TOYO TIRES DRIFT.

Biography

Kawabata first received his license at 18 and at that point he bought the Nissan 180SX. He practiced alone until he met late D1 driver Atsushi Kuroi who started to teach and advise Kawabata. At age 19, Kawabata entered a drift magazine sponsored contest and took first place. At 21, GP Sports started to sponsor Kawabata with a full line of aero parts and later he work for them moving from his hometown to Niigata where GP Sports based. Kawabata and first appeared in the D1 Grand Prix in round 4 of 2002.^[1]

Kawabata was hired by Trust to replace Hideo Hiraoka and drove an S15 Silvia built by GP Sports, he took his first win at Fuji Speedway in 2006^[2] and went on to finish 4th in the overall points. In 2007 he did even better however winning two rounds and the overall title by one point over Nobushige Kumakubo.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008 he change his car to 180SX in second round in Fuji which he drove until 2013 where he win his second title.^{[citation needed]}

In 2014 TRUST return and collaborate with Toyo Tires and he started to participate in D1GP with Nissan GT-R in 2014 and also left GP Sports in same year. The following year the Kawabata clinched his third D1GP title in penultimate round.^{[citation needed]}

2016 was difficult year for him as Daigo Saito went to dominate the series. Despite able to beat Saito in exhibition event he went winless for the second time in 3 years and he finished the season 2nd in standings. He also started his own shop called True Man Racing (True Man is rough english translation of his name) and collaborating with fellow D1 driver Hideyuki Fujino they released a bodykit for Nissan 180SX called Kick Blue.^{[citation needed]}

Following the defeat from previous year Trust built Kawabata new GT-R for 2017 season while his previous car was driven by returning Masao Suenaga, Toyo Tires as tires sponsor also released new Proxes R888R for competition. He win the third round in Tsukuba which his only win in the season, he end the season 5th in standings. But in same year he became the first driver to win FIA Intercontinental Drift Championship held in Odaiba which is first ever drift event held by FIA.

In 2018 Kawabata win 6 straight Solo Run creating a new record but unfortunately in Battle Run he failed to win a single run and lost the D1GP title to Masashi Yokoi.

In 2019, following Trust withdrawal he competing in the D1GP with Toyota GR Supra and became the first person to win D1GP round with it the following year. Unfortunately his performance keep getting worse as season goes. He change his car to new Toyota GR86 in 2022 built by his teammate Hideyuki Fujino where he gave GR86 first ever win in Drift competition, finished the season as runner-up claiming two wins and the Solo Run champions.

2007 Fuji Speedway accident

In 2007, at round 2, held in Fuji Speedway, during a sudden death round against Daigo Saito, Saito dipped into the inner apex of the 300R corner and jumped the curb of the track. His car's front wheels lost traction, which resulted in the car to understeer and collect Kawabata's Silvia into the tyre barrier in the process, effectively destroying both cars.

The impact between the cars and when they were hurled into the track protection barrier happened at speeds of over 150 km/h. Kawabata immediately come out from his car but fell to the ground just as he walk out and had to be taken to hospital for treatment for whiplash injuries, Saito miraculously evaded any physical damages. the

Kawabata won the battle which he was unable to continue, leaving Atsushi Kuroi without an opponent. For the following round, he returned with a new car and took the win at the next round at Sportsland SUGO.^[3]^[4]

Complete Drifting Results

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Last 4 [Semi-final]
Blue	Last 8 [Quarter-final]
Purple	Last 16 (16) [1st Tsuiou Round OR Tandem Battle] (Numbers are given to indicate Top 10 finish)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ) (Given to indicate that the driver has been stripped of their position through disqualification)
White	First Round (TAN) [Tansou OR Qualifying Single Runs]
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)

When driver's position are highlighted in blue, this indicates either the driver earned 100pt or 100pt tansou (solo run) bonus has been awarded, with the latter being in use for Pre-2005.

D1 Grand Prix

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Position	Points
2002		Nissan 180SX	BHH	EBS	EBS	SGO DNQ	TKB DNQ	SEK	NIK		NC	0
2003	Silk Road	Nissan 180SX	TKB DNQ	BHH DNQ	SGO DNQ	FUJ TAN	EBS TAN	SEK	TKB DNQ		NC	0
2004	Silk Road	Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86	IRW TAN								23rd	4
2004	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15		SGO TAN	EBS DNQ	APS 9	ODB DNQ	EBS 16	TKB DNQ		23rd	4
2005	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	IRW 16	ODB 4	SGO 9	APS 7	EBS TAN	FUJ 3	TKB 5		4th	55
2006	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	IRW 5	SGO 16	FUJ 6	APS TAN	EBS 4	SUZ 8	FUJ 1	IRW 16	4th	69
2007	GReddy/GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan Silvia S15	EBS 2	FUJ 4	SUZ 6	SGO 1	EBS 5	APS 1	FUJ 16		1st	100
2008	GP Sports/Toyo Tires	Nissan 180SX RPS13	EBS 1	FUJ TAN	SUZ 15	OKY 11	APS 3	EBS	FUJ		6th	54
2009	Team TOYO TIRES DRIFT	Nissan 180SX RPS13	EBS 14	APS 10	OKY 5	OKY 5	EBS 15	EBS 15	FUJ 1	FUJ 1	6th	93
2016	TOYO TIRES DRIFT TRUST RACING	Nissan R35	ODB 2	FUJ 2	TKB 3	TKB 8	EBS 9	EBS 3	ODB 2		2nd	133
2017	TOYO TIRES GLION TRUST RACING	Nissan R35	ODB 5	ODB 4	TKB 1	MSI 13	EBS 14	EBS 7	ODB 6		5th	106

Russian Drift Series GP

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Position	Points
2019	Forward Auto	Nissan 180SX	MRW	ATR	NRING	ADM	RRING	SOC 6		26	262
2021	Forward Auto	Nissan 180SX	MRW 19	NRING 13	IGORA 11	ATR 7	RRING	ADM	SOC	19	328

References

External links

Preceded by Nobushige Kumakubo	D1 Grand Prix Champion 2007	Succeeded by Daigo Saito
Preceded by Nobushige Kumakubo	D1 Grand Prix Champion 2013	Succeeded by Kuniaki Takahashi
Preceded by Kuniaki Takahashi	D1 Grand Prix Champion 2015	Succeeded by Daigo Saito

[1] J.D.M. OPTION INTERNATIONAL (2006)

[2] [ D1GP/D1SL NEWS REPORT ] J.D.M. OPTION INTERNATIONAL (2006)

[3] [ D1GP/D1SL NEWS REPORT ] J.D.M. OPTION INTERNATIONAL (2007)

[4] YouTube – Broadcast Yourself

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